Russia - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, seeking to return to the presidency in an election next month, said on Thursday large Russian companies privatized "dishonestly" in the 1990s should pay a fee to win public acceptance for the deals.

"We need to close the period of the '90s, of what, speaking honestly, was dishonest privatization," Putin said in a speech to a business group representing big businesses, which account for two-thirds of Russia's economy.

"This should be a one-off contribution, or something like that. We should think about something like that."

Putin's comments to the Russian Federation of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), while made almost as an aside, appeared to mark an attempt to rally public support for him in the March 4 election.

Opinion polls show Putin on course to win a first-round majority, but political newcomer Mikhail Prokhorov - a metals tycoon worth an estimated $18 billion - is challenging communist Gennady Zyuganov for second place.